June, 2020. The Department for Transport (DfT) released its plan to “decarbonize” UK transport on March 26 this year. Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps said that “public transport and active travel will be the natural first choice for our daily activities” and that “we will use our cars less.” Three days earlier, on… Continue reading
Browsing Category Environment Blog
Call for £6,000 grants to encourage electric vehicle sales
June 5th, 2020 Liberal Democrat leadership candidate Layla Moran called on the Government (June 4th, 2020) to offer grants of up to £6,000 to encourage drivers to buy electric cars, as part of a green bailout of the UK’s automotive industry to counter the impact of Covid-19. Under the Oxford West and Abingdon MP’s plan,… Continue reading
Crowdfunding appeal to save Hourglass, Extinction Rebellion newspaper
Waterloo Bridge, April 2019. Photo- GHD. A year ago today Central London was in a different sort of lock down. Over the Easter weekend hundreds of Extinction Rebellion activists peacefully occupied Oxford Street, the Marble Arch area and Waterloo Bridge. It was the most concerted direct action to date to draw attention to the gravity of… Continue reading
New rewilding campaign seeks to heal the countryside
This morning two buzzards and a red kite soared in interlocking circles in the warm air high above my garden. Quite what this interaction of two distinct species meant is beside the point. We were looking at a very conspicuous example, as close to home as it could possibly be, of rewilding. Technically the buzzard… Continue reading
Webinar on responses to climate and ecological emergency in context of Covid-19.
On Thursday the 26th March I joined an online webinar on responses to the climate and ecological emergency in the context of Covid-19. It was organised by climate litigation charity Plan B, and accessed by over 100 members of the British media. An expert panel included former Chief Scientific Advisor to the Government, Sir David… Continue reading
Former government chief scientist Sir David King calls for urgent climate action
It’s encouraging that the need for urgent action on the climate emergency is finally being being widely accepted by politicians, business and the wider public. The message must be relentlessly proclaimed throughout the 2020s. Until recently so many opportunities have been squandered, so many experts ignored. One is the former government chief scientist Sir David King. I remember an… Continue reading